A while ago…

Today we celebrate the life of our dear son and brother, Caleb.  Are you really 19?

C – Caring. Cool. Creative. Compassionate. Christ-like.

A – Alert. Artsy. Active. Always smiling.

L – Listener. Learner. Laborer. Lovable.

E – Effective. Evangelistic. Energetic. Enthusiastic.

B – Brilliant. Bold. Boyish. Balm.

 

When I think of Caleb, I think of his great love for God and devotion to His Word, Holy Scripture.  How he listens to the Holy Spirit, at work in his heart and life.  His diligent work-ethic.  The standards and principles which guide his life.  His smile and cheerful attitude.  The way he plays the piano, violin, and guitar.  His deep bass singing voice.  The wonderful sense of humor he expresses through jokes and funny comments, and yet his overall seriousness and thoughtfulness. His faithfulness as a son.  His dependability.  His strength of character and courage to stand for Truth in the face of opposition and adversity.  His brilliant mind displayed through his artwork, musical abilities, gardening, mechanics, writing, and indepth discussions.

Caleb personifies many verses from the Bible, but I especially think of the following when I consider Caleb’s life:

¹² Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty,
And before honor is humility.

Proverbs 18:12

And also

³³ The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom,
And before honor is humility.

Proverbs 15:33

 

I am so glad that the Lord is using Caleb in mighty ways to minister to others, and to be a strong witness for Christ!  At his place of work (a health food store) he rubs shoulders with co-workers who are atheist, agnostic and hedonists, and yet they respect and like him because they know that Caleb stands up for what he believes and defends the Truth.  In his lawn care business he is respected and loved, for his high standard of work, and his faithfulness and care of detail.  When he “went into retirement” a year and a half ago, his old customers were begging him to begin working for them again “because they couldn’t find anyone who did the excellent kind of work he did.”

I pray that your birthday is very blessed, and that you have many more happy and fruitful years ahead of you!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Caleb, Happy Birthday to you!!!

When the snow falls…

The beauties of winter weather ~ our neighbor’s stately Oak

 

2” at 9:00 AM ~ more has fallen since, and continues to fall pretty heavily even as I blog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the backyard, gardens all blanketed in snow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaden making a snowangel ~ yes he was COLD afterwards  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yours truly, taking a self-portrait facing into the blow… that’s why I’m squinting

More pictures to follow!!!

Jaden’s turning 6!

I wanted to share several pictures from Jaden’s life with you, these are just some random ones starting off from the very beginning and going on through his life.   

Grandpa, Grandma & Jaden ~ So cute.

 He looks so small!  It’s hard to imagine him being that little now. 

 I was SO thrilled to meet him for the first time!  November 2008 – what a handsome little gent!   Hanging out with his buddy Reece (our cousin)  Raking the leaves, being a good helper – Nov. ’08 Planting sod in our front yard – what a hard, hot job that turned out to be.  It was way over 100 degrees and we came up with creative ways to keep cool (e.g. the Egyptian headress).  Jaden is so cute in this picture.  He couldn’t do much beyond stopming down and watering the completed sod. 

  Learning to play his first song – Mary Had a Little Lamb.  He soon taught himself how to play it on the black-keys.  Pretty amazing!